I haven’t been around for a few months and I apologise for that, I did not forget my blog but unfortunately the last few months have been quite busy with travelling and wedding planning and now I am back. I spent 9 days in Italy last week to attend and coordinate the wedding of my British clients which it was absolutely AMAZING!!!

Villa del Balbianello and Lido di Lenno on Lake Como (not far from Laglio, George Clooney’s town) are stunning and the ceremony, the food, the cake, the flowers and the party were incredible, worth the hard months of planning, I just published the THANK YOU to all the suppliers on my website Italianweddinginwonderland.com but I am going to do it here too to give them the visibility they deserve

I am so proud to have organized the wedding of Maia and Ricky, a lovely young couple from Brighton, parents to their little gorgeous daughter India, who contacted me in April 2014 when they were travelling around the lake Como seeking for their perfect wedding venue to tie the knot. We have been working closely together in the past 15 months with emails, phone calls and meetings (where I enjoyed cuddle up with India while talking about wedding planning).

For their wedding venue they have chosen Villa del Balbianello, a stunning villa that was built in 1787 on the site of a Franciscan monastery for the Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini. After the cardinal’s death in 1796 Giuseppe Arconati Visconti bought the villa and made improvements to its gardens and the loggia. In the nineteenth century the villa belonged to the Porro-Lambertenghi family. By the early twentieth century the buildings had fallen into a state of neglect when an American businessman, Butler Ames, purchased and renovated the villa and its garden. In 1974 it was bought by the explorer Guido Monzino (leader of the first Italian expedition to climb Mount Everest), who filled it with rich collections, including artifacts acquired on his expeditions. Monzino, who died in 1988, left the villa to the Fondo per l’Ambiente Italiano, the National Trust of Italy. Famous too for its “role” on films including A month by the lake (1995), Casino Royale (2006). The villa was also used for the lake retreat scenes in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones (2002) however CGI was used in place of the building’s true exterior.

The bride and the groom spent some days around Tremezzo and Lenno back in 2014 when the bride was pregnant looking for wedding venues and by recommendation of a restaurant owner from Tremezzo (thanks to Alex at the Red and White restaurant), they visited Balbianello and they fell in love for it and they decided they big day was going to be there.

The catering has been provided by Lido di Lenno, restaurant, bar and club situated just 2 minutes boat ride from Balbianello, venue chosen by the bride and groom to carry on the wedding party after the ceremony and wedding breakfast at the historic villa. I must admit as a foodie I loved spending my time translating wedding menus for my clients, I also had the pleasure to travel to Como with the bride in May to do the food tasting and the food was superb, on the tasting day and even better on the wedding day. The staff at Lido di Lenno is truly professional, precise, friendly and accommodating to all our requests, and I will look forward to work with Diego, Nathalie and their team again in the future and recommend them to all my future clients interested in the Lake Como area.

A huge thanks to Pasticceria Ramperti located in Cermenate (Como) for the stunning looking and tasty wedding cake for my clients. For who doesn’t know this patisserie is very well known, not for nothing George Clooney asked them to make his wedding cake for his Venetian wedding to Amal Clooney, née Alamuddin.

The photographer who worked closely with Maia and Ricky is the British photographer Philip Bedford based in Brighton, who flew the day before the wedding day and captured precious moment of the wedding preparation at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo and in the stunning setting of Villa del Balbianello.

A big thank you for the flowers arrangement made by Barbara Botta Fiori, flower designer based in Cernobbio (Como), the bride wanted a rustic theme using sunflowers and the bouquet, the bridesmaids bouquets and the center tables were absolutely stunning and they worked so well with the casual yet sophisticate style of their wedding.

A big thanks to the Ufficio di stato civile at Tremezzina town hall especially to Paola Codara, who has been so understanding and thanks for all your help with the wedding procedure and a huge thanks to Rita Annunziata, the official translator/tourist guide who translated the ceremony with the bride and groom, adding a touch of Italian fun to the day.

I must mention the boat transfer service provided by Igor De Ascentis, who brought the groom and groomsmen and bride and bridesmaids from Lenno main square to Villa del Balbianello in a wooden boat which gave such a great touch to the whole wedding, and thanks a lot to his colleague Daniel Carminati to have taken all the 60 + guests including me to the venue and back for a mini lake trip before kick starting the party at Lido di Lenno.

I am sure I have forgotten someone and if I did please forgive me, I am so pleased about how this stunning wedding turned out, the weather was amazing and we were very lucky despite the weather forecast, I am so pleased to have met and to be now in contact with so many nice people, all so helpful and friendly, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience on the shores of Lake Como, where four years ago I got married myself. And what’s better than receive a call from my bride a few days after who said:

“Anna, thank you, Friday was the best day of my life”. Well, this is the biggest satisfaction.

Anna in her wonderland

If you fancy Keep Up With Anna in her wonderland, Italian wedding planner born and raised in Bergamo (Italy), moved to Brighton (UK) in 2009 and adopted by Miami 6 years ago, I a more a Miami girl than Brighton Beach one! I write this blog to keep my friends and family updated with what I am up to,from pleasure to business everything I write is my real life and nothing that I write about has been set up for your entertainment, Are you interested? Follow me!
If you want to contact me please email me annainherwonderland@gmail.com